Wednesday, September 2, 2009

When growing up in a fairly large family, it is a constant battle to be noticed and recognized for something your siblings have not already done. While my brothers, sisters, and I all played a variety of sports, I was always attracted to the idea of creating, drawing, inventing something new even. Being able to do what my brothers and sisters struggled with gave me my own spot light. Ever since I can remember, I was constantly drawing, doodling, and coloring during my classes. Art classes seemed to be a joke or free time for most of the kids I attended elementary and middle school with, but I took it to be a time for work. In high school, most of my concentration when into my art classes, where I was most comfortable. I was always excited for a new project, but despite all this, I still was not sure where I would end up with an interest in art.

Upon entering college, when I first started out figuring my niche in the art world, I easily became frustrated. I felt like the more I tried, the more lost I became. I never quite felt like I fit in with the art world. I was excited to try new things, venturing away from the repetitive high school work. Through the introductory drawing and painting classes, I knew that I felt most comfortable with drawing. Despite my comfort, I always had an attraction to photography, and the idea of pausing time. The way a black and white photograph can capture any emotion felt while taking the picture, or even generate feelings that may have not originally existed. I feel as though no matter how simple the subject matter is that you photograph, it becomes transformed into a complex dialogue through the contrasting black and white. The photographs are immediately antiqued and retain a very personal connection of the artist and subject. For myself, art, especially photography, is simply something that should excite you, motivate you, and inspire you to constantly build and challenge yourself to do better and be better.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Platos “Allegory of the Cave” was a bit difficult to get through due to the sometimes confusing references and language he incorporated throughout his writing. The excerpt is a piece by the philosopher Plato and revolves around his teacher, Socrates, and a man named Glaucon. This reading is an interesting reference to a human beings desire to learn and keep building on that knowledge. Along with this, Plato divulges how he, as a philosopher, see’s things differently then the rest of society. The allusion Plato paints to his viewer involving people chained to a cave, only seeing their “reality” through shadows on a wall is simple, but adds a sense of complexity in that the shadows are an illusion that people struggle to see past in order to attain a sense of the real world.